History

After the war, the South, and the nation, faced the question of how to make the transition from slave to free labor. Most former slave owners insisted that they should get their land back and maintain control over their workers, even if they had to use force. Freedpeople...

Enslaved people did not have full rights to their children, or control over their lives. When freedom came, parents could take an active role in the upbringing of their children, leading to stronger parental bonds and more stable families. Reconstruction 360 is a digital...

Historian Kate Masur explains the origins of 40 Acres and a Mule, a famous phrase that many have heard but may not fully understand. It originated in the early days of Reconstruction, when General Sherman issued Field Order 15, giving thousands of freed people abandoned...

Reconstruction 360 is built on a 360 degree video platform that features a reenactment set on a farm in 1865. The reenactment was shot at Freewoods Farm, a living farm museum in the Freewoods community near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Today, the descendants of the...

For more than 40 years, Drs. Maxie S. and Ethel M. Gordon championed desegregation. The Gordons contributed across a multitude of platforms: First Calvary Baptist Church, Benedict College, Morris College, the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., the NAACP, the S.C. Human...

For more than 60 years, Lottie Gibson was a one-woman crusader for Greenville’s poor and disenfranchised. Gibson was an outspoken social activist, widely known and respected for her work with families who were homeless and bereaved. She cut through the red tape to provide...

David Drake, also known as “Dave the Potter” and “Dave the Slave,” (c.1801-c.1870) was an American potter who lived in Edgefield, S.C. Dave produced alkaline-glazed stoneware jugs between the 1820s and 1860s. As an enslaved African, he often signed his works “Dave,” and is...

Founded in 1896, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is the third oldest museum in the state. The museum focuses on South Carolina’s military history from the Revolutionary War to the present. “History is about people,” says Joe Long, Curator of...

The Civil War-era was one of industrious innovation and sweeping economic and cultural change. On February 17th, 1864, the H. L. Hunley became the first successful combat submarine in world history with the sinking of the USS Housatonic. After completing her mission, she...

The Woodrow Wilson Family Home is South Carolina's only remaining presidential site. The home is now a museum featuring the history of Reconstruction. The home was built in 1871 when, at the age of 14, “Tommy” Woodrow Wilson and his family moved to Columbia. According to...

On the corner of Marion and Richland streets in downtown Columbia stands the Mann-Simons site. The Mann-Simons Site was a collection of commercial and domestic spaces owned and operated by the same African American family from at least 1843 until 1970. Only one house stands...

Find recent additions to the South Carolina Hall of Fame as well as a full listing of profiles. FULL LISTING A TO Z Andrew Jackson Andrew Pickens Ann Pamela Cunningham Anna Hyatt Huntington Anne Austin Young Anne Worsham Richardson Archibald Rutledge Arthur Middleton...

Mayor Steve Benjamin, Columbia’s first African American mayor, was elected in a record-turnout election in 2010. He made it his mission to shape the Capital City into the most talented, educated and entrepreneurial city in America. His devotion to Columbia began in 1990...

The final stop on the SC ETV Endowment's Southern Campaign Tour was Kings Mountain National Battlefield. Kings Mountain is a rocky, wooded hill on the border of North and South Carolina. This site also played host to several U.S. Presidents: President Herbert Hoover spoke...